McKinney openly espoused these theories at an Aug. 14 Houston event, in which she was honored as “the most courageous ally of justice and humanity,” and a “hero of the Palestinian cause.” McKinney met lit-tle challenge to her theories from the largely like-minded, and tightly policed, audience of 100 people.

The event took place in a side room at Cafe Layal, 6328 Richmond Ave. Sponsored by the Palestinian American Cultural Center, it was attended by members of the local offices of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Green Party. The Consulate General of Jordan in Houston also was represented.

CAIR brought McKinney to town to headline its annual Houston banquet, which took place Aug. 15 at the Westin Oaks Galleria. PACC and the Green Party each filled tables at the banquet, which drew an audience of 400. The café event, the night before, was used to promote the banquet.

Texans may be familiar with CAIR from the 2008 Holy Land Foundation trial, which became the largest terrorism-financing prosecution in U.S. history. Founders of the Dallas-based Muslim charity were found guilty of funneling $12 million to the Palestinian terrorist organization, Hamas. CAIR, which shares a connection with Hamas through both of their origins in the Muslim Brotherhood, was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the trial. As a result of the HLF investigation, the FBI severed ties with CAIR.

McKinney, herself, recently has grabbed headlines for lawless activism and violence. On June 30, 2009, she attempted to “break the Israeli siege of Gaza” aboard a Free Gaza Movement vessel. After violating international maritime law, and ignoring repeated warnings from the Israeli navy, the boat was intercepted. McKinney spent a week in an immigration detention center after refusing to sign her deportation papers. The incident won her instant celebrity status in anti-Israel political circles. At her Aug. 14 Houston appearance, McKinney declared that she had been “kidnapped” by Israel, though she admitted that the entire boat mission was a publicity stunt.

On March 29, 2006, McKinney assaulted a U.S. Capitol police officer, who had stopped her at a security station after she failed to identify herself properly. She later issued an ambiguous apology from the House floor.

McKinney served six years in Washington, representing Georgia’s 11th District as a Democrat. She lost reelection in ’02, but won in ’04. She lost again in ’06, and unsuccessfully ran as the Green Party presidential candidate in ’08. Her political career has been one of controversy, often centering upon her support for various anti-government conspiracy theories and reported hate speech.

Whereas McKinney delivered a benign 10-minute presentation at the high-profile CAIR Houston banquet, she spent an hour speaking off-the-cuff the night before. At the banquet, she read off generalities about peace; at the café, she detailed her personal points of view. These centered upon an accusation that since Israel is so obviously a criminal state, yet enjoys such widespread American support, there must be something sinister at work.

‘Collision course’
Seated at a table with a large banner of herself hanging behind, the ex-congresswoman gave an impassioned opening statement, crafted in the language of human rights and cries of victimization.

“There were some people who, after Sept. 11, said that ‘we’re all Israelis now.’ Well, I think after Operation Cast Lead, we’re all Palestinians now,” McKinney said.

“When I first entered the Congress, I really had no intention of getting involved [in the Palestinian cause], other than to state that U.S. policy should have as its foremost concern the protection and the advancement of human rights.

“And, even that position put me on a collision course with ‘The Zionist Lobby’ that rears its ugly head in too many facets of life in this country, particularly political life. And so, The Zionists were successful in kicking me out of Congress two times,” she alleged.

‘Bolder actions’ planned
A 45-minute question-and-answer session followed. Most questions (all of which had to be submitted in writing and were screened by organizers) further demonized Israel and “The Zionists”; yet, a few questions were critical of McKinney’s positions. Irrespective of the question, however, McKinney struggled to articulate answers.

For example, in response to how to prevent American aid to Israel, McKinney said, “I don’t know exactly know how to answer that, because it’s a multifaceted way in which one would have to do that.”

After a long pause, she added, “I actually have some ideas, and I would hope that a lot of the ideas that have been shared, I believe, on how we can resolve certain issues basically ends up just being talk. And, I’ll be honest with you, I’m sick and tired of just talk. That’s why I’ve started doing things. So, I invite those people who are seriously interested in doing something to talk to me later, and I intend to be working on some more bold and courageous actions than the ones that you’ve seen, thus far.”

‘Genocidal settler states’.
Later, McKinney was asked what her message is to Americans after she visited Gaza, albeit only for 24 hours. She succinctly said, “My message for people in the United States is that until they are part of the solution, they are part of the problem.”

She elaborated further on this idea when asked a similar question. She imagined a parallel between the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and a TV documentary that she said she recently saw about the U.S. invasion of Panama.

“What Israel does to the Palestinians, the United States has done ever since there was a United States,” she alleged. “And, it’s the nature of ‘settler states’ that genocide occurs . . . and that people are disposed of their land, and that aggressive behavior, military behavior, takes place.”

While she denounced U.S. and Israeli military actions as colonial and genocidal, she endorsed military and paramilitary actions by Palestinians. Responding to a question about the local Bridge Houston/StandWithUs billboard campaign that reads, “Save Gaza from Hamas; Teach Peace, Not Hate,” McKinney ignored the query and said talk is cheap. She also began referring to herself as among the “occupied,” and described Palestinian terrorist attacks against Israel as “resistance.”

“[P]eople can talk all day and all night about a variety of issues, but at the heart of what I think it is we’re discussing here is the right of self-determination,” McKinney surmised. “We’re talking about universal application of the universal declaration of human rights. And so, then, enshrined in that declaration, we have the right of self-determination. We have the right not to be occupied. We have the right of resistance. And, that is what is happening now.”

Hamas and props
Addressing another question, she expressed her support of Hamas in Gaza: “I do not believe that when the Palestinian people have an election that the election results should be ignored.”

McKinney brought a few props to illustrate her talk. One of those was a book, “Guilt by Association,” by Jeff Gates. After stating that some Americans suffer from “blissful ignorance,” she explained: “[Y]ou also have the willingness of ‘The Zionist Lobby’ to be ruthless and, in fact, that’s what this book chronicles . . . I highly recommend this book, even though I haven’t finished reading it myself.”

An example of the “ruthlessness” of “The Zionist Lobby” is the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform legislation, McKinney argued, citing the book, for it was alleged to have allowed “The Zionist Lobby” further to control money and influence in political and public spheres.

Manipulations
In at least one case during the Q&A, the moderator attempted to manipulate the wording of a question to change its meaning: Did McKinney know of any Israeli groups that the Palestinians could work with to achieve peace? The part of the question that initally was not read was: “Or, is the only real solution to the conflict the overthrow of all Israel and replacement by a Palestinian state, from the [Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] Sea?”

When the moderator read only the first part of the question, its author objected aloud. After hearing the entire question, McKinney issued a meandering answer that began with an endorsement of the extreme leftist Israeli activist group, Gush Shalom, and ended with an accusation against the Anti-Defamation League, alleging that it “spies illegally on Americans.” The second part of the question was never addressed.

A similar off-topic reply was given when asked about the specifics of what she saw during her brief Gaza visit. McKinney insisted that “there is no devastation in Israel” from the fighting, and launched into a pitch for universal healthcare and a story about her son who had studied in Italy.

The only “incident” that occurred during the program was the removal of audience member Ira Bleiweiss, founder of Bridge Houston, who had alerted the community about McKinney’s Houston appearances. Restaurant management charged Bleiweiss with trespassing, despite there being no provocation from him, and kicked him out of the event. As Bleiweiss left, McKinney announced from the microphone, “Have a good night.”

The ex-congresswoman indicated several times throughout the evening that she intends to return to Washington. “I would suggest that the community of people who are not Zionists, who are anti-Zionists, ought to put together the kind of committee to put me back into Congress,” she said.

If reelected, McKinney promised: “I would continue to do what I’m doing now.”

The program ended with organizers handing out awards to “local heroes” who had done their own part in “helping to break the siege of Gaza.” Specifics were not given.